Chair Parade

One of Jack and Malynn's favorite things to do lately is grab a chair and push it around the kitchen.

There's just something so fun about going around and around. They end up following each other like a little chair parade.

My handsome guy.

My beautiful girl.

A FANTASTIC Birthday Weekend

I just turned 35. Long gone are the days of arranging birthday festivities that involve going out for a late night with friends and lining up a designated driver. Now I hope for a few birthday wishes from family and friends, a fun family activity that Malynn and Jack will enjoy, plans that work with both nap and bedtime schedules, and any assortment of little things that make my heart happy (e.g., a nice hot shower, a yummy glass of wine, a card "signed" by my kids, some time just sitting with my husband, a great hug...you get the idea). Well, this birthday was one of those "I got my cake and ate it too" kind of birthdays!

The celebrating started last weekend when Mike's family came to visit and we made the most of a wonderful fall weekend in Virginia with a visit to the Grave's Mountain Apple Festival and the local firehouse.

This weekend we maxed out another incredible fall weekend.

On Saturday it was off to the UVa game with the boys [Mike (aka. Daddy), John, Justin, & Rick]. It was a perfect fall day -warm sun, cool breeze. There was Bud Light Lime (really, it's good!), corn hole, and jelly beans. I got to hang out with four incredible ladies: Cali, Larkin, Amalie, & Haven. We ended up getting to watch the game from a suite (Thanks Rick!). And UVa BEAT Georgia Tech! Huge thanks to Samma and Papa for coming down to watch the kids so that I could have a little birthday date with Mike. And I really didn't worry one bit -even though it was only the second time the kids have ever gone to bed without me! (Much harder for me than them apparently.) Then we finished the day with lasagna and M&Ms. Nice.

On Sunday we all loaded up with a picnic lunch to drive to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Millwood, Va. It turned out to be too windy for any Hot Air Balloons but we still had a fantastic day! And the pictures that follow were captured with my new fancy digital camera (Huge thanks to Mike's family who all pitched in for this gift -a gift that will keep on giving for all of us since I vow to become good at using it to continue to capture our wonderful life with Malynn and Jack for all of us.)

We parked right next to these awesome colorful flags!

Jack: "I make these jeans look good!"

It was a busy place with a lot going on and Malynn soaked in every bit of it. She seems to love a big party!

Samma and Papa came with us, and we met up with Nate, Missy, Teigen, and Rourke (who really can't be called baby Rourke anymore!).

Malynn was all about the picnic lunch!
Thanks for all the yummy food Samma!

I caught some great smiles!
Daddy

Uncle Nate & Rourke

Malynn

Mommy

Teigen

Papa & Aunt Missy

Uncle Nate (again)

There was a good bit of running around.

A special version of duck-duck-goose was played which often involved multiple geese!

Even Malynn and Jack were getting into the head tapping and saying "duck."

Our running around was followed by dessert -birthday cupcakes!

It was pretty hilarious when Jack took off with the (don't worry -empty) bottle of wine.

I promise he didn't see any of us doing this!

Wine and frosting -nice combo!

Malynn decided to stick with water.

A few sweet Malynn and Mommy moments.


This is a "bridge" that we had to cross to get there.
Umm, who builds a bridge AT water level? Craziness!

A Precious Gift

Melody did a little photo shoot with the kids and got this fantastic picture. Could Malynn's hair and Jack's scrunched up nose as he tries to smile for the camera be any more adorable?!? She gave me this picture in a frame for my birthday. Thank you Melody!

Salmonella

Right on the heals of being sick with nearly three days of HIGH fever, poor Malynn got sick again. The fever came back, the diarrhea started, and she seemed to have terrible stomach pains from time to time. After a couple more tough days and tough nights, it was back to the doctor. While I took Malynn to her appointment Jack was home with Melody and they made this sweet, sweet card for Malynn. Another couple days went by before we got the lab results that showed that Malynn had salmonella! It has driven me crazy trying to think of how she might have been exposed to it, but evidently it will remain a mystery.

TRUCKS

We love trucks...

...so we couldn't resist the opportunity to go to the local firehouse for their open house, BBQ chicken lunch in hopes of getting to see the fire trucks.

Malynn had a great vantage point from Daddy's shoulders.

The BBQ chicken was great, and we discovered that Malynn and Jack both love green beans!

They are both also great at drinking from a water bottle on their own!

And, they both love berry cobbler.

Thanks for sharing so much of yours Grand!

It was a perfect day for Grand, Ottar, and Amita to all come visit!
The firehouse was just one phase of our busy day together, which included deck painting and birthday celebrations (Ottar-Sept, Grand & Mommy-Oct.).

After eating we headed outside to check out one of the many trucks that were out for viewing.

Our first fire truck experience! Awesome!
So many parts to investigate!

Jack: "I think I might be in my element."

And we met a fireman who let us...

SIT IN THE TRUCK!! So cool!

Jack: "Yup, this feels right."

Malynn: "Ok, now I'm going to show you how to do this right."

Malynn: "Umm, I'm not sure Jack should be standing there."

Mommy going for a creative shot.

Are these guys photogenic or what!

Jack: "Ah-ha, here are the hoses."
Malynn: "I think this is boy stuff."

Classic!

Side note -later in the day Jack had a few more tricks to show us.

Can you push a chair with a basket on it while drinking milk?

King of Amita!